“Lord, take not only my nose…” (Fr. Jogues)

HAVE MUCH MORE I desire to share with you about many different subjects: church music, volunteer choirs, historical pianism, health insurance absurdities, Luca Marenzio, and so forth. But I have been serving on a committee creating the Brébeuf Hymnal—which is finally complete, and will be available for purchase soon—and this has caused me to neglect some of my blogging activities. Regardless of things I hope to share with you someday, today’s article may be the most important of my life.

James 5:16 says: “When a just man prays fervently, there is great virtue in his prayer.” Unlike Martin Luther, ¹ Catholics believe the Bible to be the inspired Word of God. Fr. Isaac Jogues was absolutely a “just man.” Yet, God did not (immediately) grant his prayer:

The lesson we must learn:

  Almighty God often grants our prayers in ways we do not expect.

Let us pray always, even when it “seems” our prayers go unanswered. Who knows? God may be “shaping” or “forming” our stubborn wills; and that’s a good thing!

NOTES FROM THIS ARTICLE:

1   Martin Luther threw out this book of the Bible. He called it an “Epistle of Straw.” Martin Luther also tossed out several other books of the Bible as uninspired, because he said he “had an aversion” to them. Luther was a heretic.